Serbian-Albanian drug conspiracy: U.S. convict discovered

He says 18.5kg of cannabis in his car had been introduced to a Serb named Peter in co-operation with a Kosovo Albanian.

Arrested by police on July 19th 2017 while passing customs on Hoti Hani with an estimated 185kg of hashish, Elkhyn Regimov, 43, born in Azerbaijan and residential in Prague, Czech, but with Ukrainian citizenship, said before the court he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Reactionov, who was sentenced Thursday on 11 October by the Court of War Crimes to 6 years and 8 months in prison, said he was deceived by an unidentified Serb who was introduced to him as Peter and a Kosovo Albanian.

However, the court, which left the prosecutor's duty to investigate the following for his associates, decided not to accept Rxhikov's alibi, which he found guilty. 43-year-old Agim Tirana's lawyer sought innocence and said the prosecution had not investigated to reveal other persons in history.

Reactionov is probably one of the foreigners lured by the Albanian cannabis boom 2 years ago. He traveled to Albania in a rented car in Prague, and after spending several days in Durres, he left with drugs to Czechia. B The IERN has identified several foreign cases that are being tried after being caught while aiming to pass various quantities of cannabis abroad. The Prosecutor General's annual analysis of the work also identified the increase in international narcotics traffic from 2016 to 2017.

In a number of foreign cases, they were arrested and sentenced only for possession of several grams. A BIRN text in the fall of 2017 found that some believed that they could cross the border in small quantities, also influenced by the news about Albania as a paradise and cannabis.

In the final conclusions of the First Century Criminals Prosecutor's Office, Rhygimov was reportedly travelling with the type “Opel Astra”, white plateed 5AR2462, company property “Europaean Lease”, with headquarters in the Czech republic. A detailed search has been found hidden in the car, which has been wrapped in sodium packages, and after counting, 24 packets of 185kg of narcotics have resulted in total.

According to the prosecution, during receiving statements, the defendant has claimed that two days before the event has been contacted by a Serbian citizen named Peter, who has served in some cases as a taxi, taking him from the airport at the hotel.

Reactionov has confirmed before investigators that the Serbian citizen has asked him to take him by taxi to a hotel located on the Durres beach, to take him to Serbia, his home. He has further clarified that he has communicated with this person three times and that he slept in the hotel in room 301, while the Serbian citizen, along with an old man who made the translator, has slept in room 106.

Ukrainas has claimed to have slept two nights in the hotel and paid all expenses to Peter. He has further confirmed to investigators that on July 18, 2017, Peter has gone to the room and has taken the keys to his car to put his clothes in because on the 19th day of his birth.

Reactionov indicated that, at 1: 00 p.m. on the 19th, he went to Peter's room, who told him to leave without him because he had work and couldn't come. He has given his car keys and fuel money, while the rest of the money he owed him has been promised to give it to him when he goes to Prague on his own.

The defendant has claimed that all the way to Hote's Hani has been repeatedly preceded by two vehicles, one of which was a black Golf with Serbian license plates, which crossed the border just before he entered the customs.

But, according to the prosecution, these claims by Elkhyn Rhegiov are incredible and do not match the data extracted from computer phone expertise in his possession.

The prosecution's conclusions reportedly did not find communication with the Serbian citizen on the phone, and that from the investigation of the client registry in the alleged hotel, no data has resulted concerning other people alleged by the defendant. Rather, the prosecution says the messages found were from Greek and Albanian phone numbers.

The prosecution has called for the guilty plea and conviction of indictee Elkhyn Rhagimov for the criminal act of “narcotics trafficking”, remaining on the attempt. With 10 years of freedom lifted and his sentence cut to 6 years and 8 months in prison.

Lawyer Agim Tirana rejected the prosecution and claimed it has not verified his client's claims regarding the other two people, who, according to him, are the real authors of the drug trafficking attempt. Lawyer Tirana says that on July 17th 2017, at the Albanian border Morine-Kukes has entered a 65-year-old Kosovo citizen and does not turn away from Albania anymore.

According to him, this Kosovo citizen has slept in the 106th chamber of the hotel “Virginia” along with another person whose name is not marked, right in the room the defendant has declared. He has added that, the prosecution has not found it difficult to find Kosovo citizen, when he knew his automotive license plates and ID number.

Furthermore, lawyer Tirana has confirmed that, in the number of the defendant's mobile phone, according to the report of July 30, 2017, the telephone review results in dozens of calls carried out at 15-16-17-18-19 July 2017, for which no interest has been shown to decipher who they belong to. He claimed that no traces of the defendant's fingerprints are recorded in the narcotic ambulance. Lawyer Tirana has demanded that under these circumstances his client be acquitted, as it has not become possible to reveal the real authors, but also the short trial application.

The defendant himself has requested that a complete telephone analysis be carried out, claiming there was no “Aligator”, as the prosecution claims. I'm innocent! I'm just to blame for giving the Serbian keys to put the bags in the car”, he stated before the court.

But the court ruled the defendant's guilty plea Elkhyn Regimov and his sentence to 10 years in prison and in applying his final sentence to 6 years and 8 months in prison. The court, however, has estimated that some of the material evidence -- namely, mobile phones -- will remain in the separate prosecution file for continuing investigations into finding Ukrainian collaborators.